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Aldous Harding  

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Decent smaller intimate venue with Trinity Centre. Good solid support from Laura Jean who brought her own brand or quirky Australian folk pop. Aldous arrived on stage with her band amidst a cloud of quiet expectation and cheers from the crowd. Opened with an energetic performance of recent title track from recent Designer LP. Then settled into a series of quietly intense performances covering most of the new album. Throw in a couple of older tracks (BLEND) and a new track for the encore...and the crowd was lapping it up. Another awesome night in the presence in Aldous and her brilliant songs.

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7th April 23 Admiralspalast Berlin

The sound was lousy and the lighting incredibly bad. The band seemed uninspired, as if they had to get through an unpleasant compulsory date. With the abundance of disinterest in an appealing presentation, Aldou's actually beguiling manner then comes across more like arrogance.

A sad evening indeed, after which one wonders why they give live concerts at all.

Aldous Harding is the perfect medicine for those who have lost their sense of wonder. From the very moment she appears on stage she takes the audience with her to the core of her lyrics, to a world of her own she opens up and shares when singing.

If you're lucky enough to be at her sight's reach you won't be left indifferent to the special intensity it adds to her already heartfelt music.

Amazing songs, beautiful voice; Aldous Harding is a true artist.

The venue is small and has a very low stage, add to that a relatively petite artist, sitting on a chair - it did mean that a lot of people couldn't see her well, or at all at times. Hopefully, they'll fix this at the next gig at Heimathafen in November.

Absolutely incredible performance and so mesmerising. Between songs you could hear a pin drop she captured the audience. She is certainly not one to miss. I doubt she will be playing in such a small and intimate venue again.

really enjoyed it. So much more than I had expected. Band was great too and sound quality excellent (Summerhall) However I think this music is best heard in a seated venue... probably wouldn't go again otherwise.

Hi! Hard to say...That's was sooooooo wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! She's loaded my soul and body with so deep and emotional feelings. I'm very happy...my special trip from Latvia was incredibile! Thank You!

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Find out more about Aldous Harding tour dates & tickets 2024-2025

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Aldous Harding review – performative strangeness can’t hide great melodies

Brighton Dome There’s an almost David Byrneish awkwardness to the singer’s self-presentation, but the tunes are straightforwardly winning

T wenty minutes into Aldous Harding’s set, after a spellbinding version of Treasure, from her 2019 breakthrough album Designer , has provoked a particularly vociferous response from the crowd, she speaks her first words to the audience. It feels oddly like a warning. “I am friendly and open,” she says. “But we do have to do things my way.”

As warnings go, it feels a little after the fact: you could have worked out Harding is intent on doing things her way pretty much from the moment she walked on stage. That means a gig punctuated by long, pregnant silences – “the no charisma between songs thing”, as she puts it – during which Harding adjusts her microphone stand, moves a chair across the stage and switches instruments, which she has a habit of looking at as if she’s never seen them before. When she does say something, it’s often a non sequitur: “I found this guitar in a river”; “I need a reset because this” – the venue – “is … a dome”.

When not playing an instrument – a nylon stringed guitar, a tambourine which she flaps up and down vertically rather than shaking, a cabasa – she accompanies her vocals with stagey movements, stalking around while slowly turning her head from side to side like someone walking into an unfamiliar environment and sizing it up, or dancing with a deliberately tentative ineptness, as if she’s at the edge of a dancefloor, unsure of whether to join in. She has a beautiful voice, powerful and crystalline, but it’s occasionally disrupted by unexpected yelps, and continually twisted into peculiar, unplaceable accents.

The opening of Tick Tock feels like a dialogue is taking place between two characters – one with a Lou Reed-ish drawl, the other fluting, high and sweet – albeit a dialogue that doesn’t make much sense: “The dirty of it ripped the label, I believe him, man holy.” There is also a degree of face-pulling going on. Harding’s musical influences are not easy to define – she doesn’t mention any in her interviews, where she remains as elusive a presence as she is on stage – but you can detect a hint of early Talking Heads about the staccato Old Peel, which feels telling: her brand of stagecraft also carries something of David Byrne’s old disruptive awkwardness.

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You could find all this enrapturing, discomfiting or a little too mannered and self-consciously weird for its own good: tonight’s audience – pin-drop attentive at all times – fall into the first category. The really weird thing about Harding is that, for all the performative strangeness, funny voices and inexplicable lyrics, what lies at the centre of what she does is remarkably straightforward and prosaic. Aside from the fragmentary Bubbles – and a moment during Fever where her drummer doubles up on trumpet, a rather impressive feat in itself – the songs’ arrangements are simple: lilting, muted keyboard-driven soft rock, blessed with a melodic facility that’s far more striking than any of the attendant idiosyncrasies.

Staring at the Henry Moore has a lovely, cascading tune; there’s an ease and a flow to The Barrel that the jarring lyrical imagery can’t derail. Passion Babe’s hook drills deep into your brain, regardless of the fact that she’s singing it in an oddly strained, nasal tone. It lingers long after Harding slowly departs the stage, waving as she goes, but frowning, as if the applause, like the instruments she plays, is unfamiliar to her.

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Aldous Harding Returns With ‘Old Peel’

By Angie Martoccio

Angie Martoccio

Prior to the pandemic, Aldous Harding was closing her live shows with the unreleased song “Old Peel.” Now, the New Zealand singer has officially dropped the track as a one-off single, paired with a new video.

Harding co-directed the clip with her longtime collaborator, Martin Sagadin. It features the band in a cozy room as Sagadin dances chaotically in front of the mic and Harding sits close by on keyboards.

Harding will release “Old Peel” as a seven-inch single on July 9th, with a B-side that features an acoustic version of the track. The single follows her 2019 LP Designer .

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by Aldous Harding

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Aldous Harding Announces 2022 Tour, Shares Video for New Song “Old Peel”: Watch

By Noah Yoo

Aldous Harding has returned with a new song, “ Old Peel .” The New Zealand singer-songwriter’s latest single arrives with an acoustic version of the track as the B-side, too. The music video was co-directed by Harding and Martin Sagadin. Watch that below.

Next year, Harding will embark on an enormous tour, starting with a show at Cirque Royal in Brussels, Belgium on March 3, 2022. She’ll play concerts throughout Europe and the United Kingdom in March and April before starting a North American run at the beginning of June. You can find the full tour schedule below, too.

Harding’s most recent album, her third LP Designer , was released in 2019.

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Aldous Harding: 03-03 Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royal 03-05 Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli 03-06 Groningen, Netherlands - Oosterpoort 03-07 Berlin, Germany - Admiralspalast 03-09 Paris, France - Le Trianon 03-11 Nantes, France - Le Lieu Unique 03-12 Lyon, France - Epicerie Moderne 03-14 Milan, Italy - Santeria Toscana 31 03-15 Zurich, Switzerland - Bogen F 03-17 Prague, Czech Republic - Palac Akropolis 03-18 Warsaw, Poland - Niebo 03-20 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega 03-22 Stockholm, Sweden - Berns 03-23 Oslo, Norway - Sentrum Scene 03-25 Gothenburg, Sweden - Pustervik 03-27 Hamburg, Germany - Mojo Club 03-28 Cologne, Germany - Burgerhaus Stollwerk 03-30 London, England - Barbican 03-31 London, England - Barbican 04-01 Norwich, England - The Waterfront 04-03 Glasgow, Scotland - City Halls 04-05 Dublin, Ireland - National Concert Hall 04-07 Manchester, England - Albert Hall 04-08 Brighton, England - The Dome 04-10 Cardiff, Wales - The Tramshed 04-11 Bristol, England - Trinity 04-12 Bristol, England - Trinity 06-03 Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall 06-04 Detroit, MI - El Club 06-05 Toronto, Ontario - Danforth Music Hall 06-06 Montreal, Quebec - Rialto Theatre 06-08 Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair 06-09 New York, NY - Webster Hall 06-10 Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer 06-11 Washington, D.C. - Miracle Theatre 06-14 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel 06-15 Atlanta, GA - Terminal West 06-19 New Orleans, LA - Republic 06-20 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater 06-21 Austin, TX - Mohawk 06-23 Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom 06-24 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern 06-25 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore 06-27 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom 06-28 Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre 07-01 Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre 07-02 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre

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Live Review: Aldous Harding @ The Miracle Theater — 6/11/22

The rare presentation of unparalleled conviction and determined peculiarity can almost certainly enlighten an audience to the motive and thrust of compelling songwriting.

Honing a wholly original and mystifying stage demeanor, New Zealand’s innovative folk pioneer Hannah Sian Topp, who’s commonly known to music listeners as Aldous Harding, delivered a riveting and alluring performance recently at The Miracle Theater in the nation’s capital, solidifying herself — if she hadn’t already — as one of today’s most stunning and extraordinary performers.

Touring in support of the new album, titled Warm Chris and released in March via 4AD, Harding mystified a sold-out audience on June 11 with a set pulled largely from her most recent studio offering.

Cloaked in a black kimono dress with black slacks underneath it, her hair pulled back sleek and tight into a long tail, Harding’s every expression and movement was purposeful, and her eyes were glaring as she conducted the performance with a timeless mastery.

The night began with a trifecta of songs from her new album in what has become an anticipated standard on this tour, as audience members at The Miracle Theater were mingling before the show with excitement about what the set would bring.

Stream Aldous Harding’s newest album, Warm Chris, via Spotify:

“Ennui,” a sprightly, probing piece that opens up the newest album, provided a runway for both the avant-garde instrumentation in this newest batch of songs, but of course Aldous’ luscious and doting pitch that has come to define this catalogue stretching back to the 2014 self-titled album.

She led the group in the resounding hum to advance the opening track, and by the time her words met the meshed march of piano and drums, it felt impossible to not be pulled into the ride of each song or to become enamored by the undeniable metaphysical realm cast from the sound — cinematic and transportive.

By this early in the night, all onlookers were no doubt already enchanted, perhaps even perplexed, by Harding’s inexplicably artful physical display of gestures, like sporadic upper-body ballet or an improvised response to each and every note of the song.

And regardless, the effect was fulfilled on the audience: flashing looks that ranged from euphoric to standoffish, she’d lean over herself in seemingly awkward but intentional fashion; she’d cock her head back, turn it to the side, whisper a few words that only she could hear, then cast a ghastly look into the corners and relax momentarily before returning to her uncommon groove that abstractly illustrated each song throughout the night.

Aldous would pick up the acoustic guitar for the evening’s second number, “Tick Tock,” a polished groove that showed her ability to change tones in sequence as well as her fine picking skills. All the while, she continued to move in unorthodox, freakish ways to highlight the rich twists and turns of this track.

Backed by a group that was acute and perceptive in amplifying not just the volume and texture of these unusual compositions, but their character as well, Harding’s supporting cast was superb and dynamic as a team — true professionals in barely cracking a smile to show only the least bit of approval in one another after each track was executed to what sounded to most ticketholders at The Miracle Theater as perfection.

And Harding would make any silence that much more tense as she’d stare in a new direction, even deeper. Together, this posse of multi-instrumentalists demonstrated the range of sound and mood of the newest Aldous Harding album — an intoxicating, provocative haul that includes brass, banjos and more.

To bring it to life in DC, the outfit included H. Hawkline, an accomplished singer-songwriter and outstanding guitar player, who opened the night with a solo set (backed by a reel-to-reel tape machine), as well as organist and keyboardist Mali Llywelyn; drummer, percussionist, and brass blower Gwion Llewelyn; and Harry Bohay, who rotated through an arsenal of instruments, including bass, electric guitar, and additional keys.

“Fever,” an elegant jaunt with a bouncing hook in its verses, turned into a complex and fanciful jam with Harding making the first use of the tambourine and Gwion pulling up a flugelhorn to cap the tune with a sophisticated closure.

Watch the official music video for Aldous Harding’s 2022 single “Fever” via the artist’s YouTube channel:

Sitting back down in her seat, Harding popped a Coca-Cola, took a big swig and with that, she plucked the delicate, harrowing beginning to “Treasure,” a standout from the 2019 album Designer.

Her voice and her hovering guitar were underscored by hauntingly beautiful keys from Mali, who herself was a radiating presence stageside left, as well as overall heightened group vocals as H. and Harry shared a mic in the back and the electric bass and guitar grabbed a larger share of the sound.

Those group vocals stood out again for “Fixture Picture,” another favorite from Designer that was presented in dreamy form at The Miracle Theater, featuring a fetching march as well as a brilliant synthesizer segment, another credit to Mali and her sense of timing and space.

As the night went on, and the musicians on the stage revealed themselves to be of otherworldly talents, Aldous’ class and spirit shined brighter — even when she wasn’t staring through the soul of an unsuspecting audience member, she would use her visage to seemingly call on her bandmates to own their moments, and each did with precision.

Harding and her crew steered back into the new album with “Lawn,” a sinfully groovy and captivating piece showcasing Aldous’ vocals at perhaps their most enticing and allowing H. Hawkline to fit a cutting electric motif into a rhythm that wanted to go on forever. As it did, Aldous slapped the tambourine off her hip and the seated audience howled and whooped as she went, her hair flinging in seemingly designed patterns.

Watch the official music video for Aldous Harding’s 2022 single, “Lawn,” via the artist’s YouTube channel:

Presenting more from the newest work, the title track sharpened the focus on the discernible sound in Aldous’ acoustic guitar — almost toy-like, with a plastic sound from the strings — and it brought with it a youthful innocence at this particular frequency and especially so in the bizarre tone of the song’s chorus: “Oh, Crystal / I got the love for you now / Crystal / Not that you need it, eh girl / Crystal.”

“Thank you,” Harding finally said plainly but earnestly, her first words of the night clearly directed to the audience. But her focus aggressively diverted back to the music, and the minimalistic, mesmerizing “Staring at the Henry Moore” was followed by an impassioned take on “Passion Babe,” with her voice riding a distinguishably ardent tone that maybe only she can find.

In a departure from her stoic character, Aldous seemed to poke fun at her own body language as she grabbed a swat of soda and set the can back down. “Transformers — more than meets the eye,” she playfully warbled the words to the famous franchise’s classic cartoon theme song.

It was as loose as the audience would see her, and it paved way for the unforgettable versions of two of her most adored songs — performed back-to-back — that have helped her build one of the most formidable songbooks of any young folk maven: “The Barrell” from 2019’s Designer and “Imagining My Man” from 2017’s Party.

These popular, dazzling pieces manifested so as to confirm the proficiency of the band, and each showed Harding thriving in the murkiness born out of such pensive territory. Her breathtaking articulation turned almost to a shriek in belting some of the most striking verses to “Imagining My Man,” and her mates, particularly Gwion with a high pitch and Mali with a soft croon, each injected their own voice to create the interspersed, choral “HEY!” chant that defines this unique creation.

Serving up another batch from the new album, Harding’s glance appeared to be returning to something off the stage, close to the wall. Meanwhile, three additional new songs helped build the case that Warm Chris, though fresh, has the vibration and emotion to stand it apart from her previous works.

Stream Aldous Harding’s 2019 album, Designer, via Spotify:

Returning to the stage and performing a darkly tempting and imaginatively modish take on “Blend” from Party, Harding looked in that same direction to her right several times before making her way over to the piano.

Then she took a breath, and she spoke to the audience: “Normally, I wouldn’t make a Transformers joke,” she said, sitting snuggly next to Mali.

And she let those who couldn’t see it themselves in on what had eventually caught her attention down low on the floor.

“There is also a dog here,” and she looked in the direction of the wide-eyed pit bull terrier — a hard-working service dog — who’d spent the whole set listening and was particularly keen on Gwion’s activity within the drumkit.

“Things are different tonight,” Harding pointed out, prompting some giggles, and even if it wasn’t that funny to her, it somehow made the night that much more intriguing. “I don’t know how I’ve done a whole show with it.”

Ending the night with one of the most departing songs from Warm Chris, Aldous led the piano and Hawkline picked the banjo for “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain,” a piece that much like the recorded version, teetered on unsettling or toiled in a state of questioning, with keys over strings in an eerie, arresting step-for-step cadence.

The daughter of folk singer, Harding, or Topp to those close to her, clearly has an innate ability to write magnificent songs, as proven by each of her studio albums. But she’s also to be exalted for the stylish manner in which she can enthrall an entire room of people, and leave them wanting more.

Ennui Tick Tock Fever Treasure Fixture Picture Lawn Warm Chris Staring at the Henry Moore Passion Babe The Barrel Imagining My Man Bubbles Old Peel Leathery Whip Blend (encore) She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain (encore)

Here are images of Aldous Harding, as well as the night’s opening act, H. Hawkline , performing at The Miracle Theater in DC on June 11, 2022. All photos copyright and courtesy of Casey Vock.

H. Hawkline

And the aforementioned service dog …

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Latest setlist, aldous harding on april 29, 2023.

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Aldous Harding takes audience on a stirring quest for unexpected tones

The new zealander performed songs from ‘warm chris’ for a capacity crowd at d.c.’s miracle theatre.

Singer-songwriter Aldous Harding strums an acoustic guitar and lilts in a dulcet soprano — some of the time. But the New Zealander, who attracted a capacity crowd to the Miracle Theatre on Saturday night, seemed perpetually in search of new and unexpected tone colors. Her voice shifted, sank and slurred, delivering cryptic lyrics in a variety of timbres.

These changes were cannily underscored by a mostly Welsh backing band, whose four members all played multiple instruments. They also offered vocal support or counterpoint, melding with or expanding the reach of Harding’s protean voice. The first part of the chorus of “Leathery Whip,” for example, was sung by bassist-guitarist Huw Evans (a.k.a. H. Hawkline) before Harding took over.

Harding (whose given name is Hannah) performed all 10 songs from her new album, “Warm Chris,” and several others from the record’s three predecessors. The songs could be rollicking, as the performer demonstrated first with “Fever,” whose shouted one-word refrains were punctuated by a brief fluegelhorn motif played by drummer Gwion Llewelyn. Or they could be as hushed as “Staring at the Henry Moore,” a slightly jazzy ballad for which Llewelyn switched from sticks to brushes.

It was at the end of the latter number, halfway through the 80-minute show, that Harding mumbled, “Thank you,” her first words to the audience. The performer became chattier, but she remained a somewhat forbidding figure. Wearing a plain black dress with her hair pulled back, Harding moved with stylized stiffness, suggesting Kabuki as much as robot-like break-dancing. Her presence became less eerie during those songs where she sat to play guitar or the electric piano, which she occasionally shared with keyboardist-guitarist-singer Mali Llywelyn.

About a third of Harding’s songs were upbeat, and all had stirring moments. Yet the fitting closer was the slow and stark “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain,” which borrows its title, if little else, from the folk tune. As Hawkline plucked a banjo, Harding concluded the show with a melancholy couplet: “You made such a mountain/She won’t be coming ’round.”

Hawkline preceded the headliner with a 35-minute set, during which he sang and played guitar over bleepy backing tracks that emanated from, of all things, a reel-to-reel tape recorder. His fragile songs mixed absurdity and falsetto in equal measure, but they were capped by a more muscular closing number that propelled many listeners out of their seats.

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Polaris Hall, Portland, OR 04/19/2019

(Photo: Peter Hutchins )

Haunting and haunted, New Zealand export and 4AD resident Aldous Harding finally returned to Portland after beguiling audiences at Pickathon a few years ago. Harding abruptly canceled her tour last year, but came to Polaris Hall in support of new album, Designer, sporting a new band and new show. In fact, only one track from her prior record, Party, graced the 11-song setlist.

In front of a sold-out audience, Harding spent the first set previewing Designer, from the salsa-inflected single “The Barrel” to the downbeat ballad “Heaven is Empty.” When she first took the stage wearing a dark T-shirt and white slacks that rode high above her waist, Harding looked as if she was channeling a spirit. Kicking off with her new title track, Harding shook a maraca as she licked her gums, as if trying to rid herself of a bad taste, and fixed an intense stare on audience members as if daring them to look away first.

Though she was backed by a four-piece band, Harding spent the majority of the show either picking her acoustic guitar or hunching over a keyboard, long hair cascading over her face. She said little, cracking a joke only when she opened a Red Bull and commenting that she forgets just how awful they taste. Some tech problems marred sections of the set and Harding became visibly frustrated at times but it wasn’t enough to shake her out of the performance.

Harding is able to do mysterious things with her voice, shifting from the high-pitched chorus of “Zoo Eyes” to the throaty drawl of “Heaven is Empty.” Designer is mainly a quiet affair and Harding attacked these new songs with gentle intensity. Even if her lyrics may have taken a step back this time around (check out the aforementioned “Zoo Eyes”) Harding continues to impress as a live act, transforming songs that can sound middling on record into totally different beasts on stage.

Asking an audience to sit through a set of new songs is a big request, especially if the record hasn’t come out yet. Harding withheld her old material until the final song before the encore, playing a gorgeous version of “Blend.” Fans hoping for “Imagining My Man” and “Horizon” were completely out of luck. Yet the performance was so good Harding could have been playing obscure ‘50s covers and it wouldn’t have mattered.

Speaking of covers, Harding kicked off the encore with a version of Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down the Line” turning the song into something ghostly and beautiful. Harding finished the set with “The Peel,” a new song not included on Designer. Keeping time with her mug, Harding delivered the most muscular song of the evening, perhaps portending more rocking music to come. After a brisk 70 minutes, Harding and her band left the stage. It would have been great to hear more material from Party but Harding seems to be the type of artist who chases her muse. It will be interesting to see where it takes her.

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Aldous Harding at Barbican Hall, London, England

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Aldous Harding at The Waterfront, Norwich, England

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